The Brutality of Strangers
by WonderlandSyndrome
Summary: Post-DOA4: Sometimes you have to get to know someone really well to realize you're really strangers. - Fighters Drabbles.


_Drabbles I wrote when I had writer's block. I got everyone in at least once, apart from Leon becasue I found it difficult to write for him._

_**Characters/Pairings: **Multiple characters/Eliot-x-Kokoro, Christie-x-Helena, implied Ryu-x-Kasumi.** Time Period: **Mostly set Post-DOA4, with flashbacks**.**_

**_Ratings/Warnings: _**_PG-13 - Tournament violence, some lesbianism and swears._

* * *

**Protector - Kasumi and Ryu**

"_I promised Hayate. I cannot let you die, I cannot let you go. Remember that the way of the Shinobi is a harsh one._"

Kasumi chuckles as those words flicker once again in her memory, as they always do as she sits down to contemplate things that have happened to her. She dips her aching feet into the stream, massaging the swelling away with her skilled hands.

She senses a disturbance and looks up into the boughs of the trees, just catching the glimpse of a shadow flying by. She sighs, shaking her head at him.

"Are you _sure_ that you are just doing this for Hayate, dear Ryu?"

* * *

**Experiment - Lisa and Hayate**

The way he was just laying there on the operating table reminded Lisa of a dead murder victim on a episode of _CSI_. He wasn't dead though. She knew he wasn't, because he was flushed and breathing. Just. He just looked dead and gone, and he might as well have been.

Making sure the coast was clear, Lisa tucked her pen behind her ear and sat down on the edge of the table, her clipboard resting on her lap.

When the soldiers brought the shinobi - "Project Epsilon" as they call him - in here, he was already out cold. He had major damage to the spinal cord, which put him in a coma; how he ended out like that is unknown to them. His clan cared for him, but they don't have the knowledge of modern medicine that DOATEC did. They preformed sugary as soon as he arrived. Lisa got his red fluid all the way up her elbows, and the smell clung to her hair for hours after.

The woman sighed and brushed her hand over his forehead, pushing his limp hair out of his face. Epsilon looked peaceful, like a child dreaming. He didn't know what the committee had planned for him. It's almost heartbreaking seeing him like that and it was strange to feel like that; Lisa had never felt compassion or sympathy for lab rats before, but this one was different.

She smiled softly. "Don't worry. I'm going to get you out of here…"

* * *

**Vanity - Tina**

Looking at herself in the mirror, her face covered in bruising, all black and blue and purple, Tina cursed them all, cursed this tournament and then started curse herself.

If this tournament messed up her modelling career, heads were going to roll.

* * *

**Crimson - Brad, Eliot and Kokoro**

When the boy finally returned to their table in the bar, he didn't quite understand why the drunken master started to chuckle at him. He told Brad that he was just going to the restroom, but the elder started to shake his head, not believing him now.

Eliot furrowed his brow, not understanding, then his companion raises the metical platter their dinner was served upon. It was only then did the teenager start to blush, seeing the geisha-red lipstick that was left smeared across his mouth.

* * *

**Wrong - Jann Lee and Lei Fang.**

Jann felt like something was totally wrong with the world as he laid there on the ground, unable to move any muscle in his body, feeling the taste of blood on his gums.

The idea of a wrong universe deepened, and his brow furrowed with annoyance, as he felt a high heel step lightly on his chest and he heard those childish words: _"Ha! Beat ya, you loser!"_

* * *

**Gunpoint - Helena and Christie.**

She has the bitch actually where she wants her. Always wanted her; all alone with her in a locked room, trapped underneath her, the nuzzle of her revolver pressed into her flat stomach, safety off, finger on the trigger… but this is not how she pictured everything to turn out like. Oh no.

Helena pictured blood, and guts, the smell of burning flesh and sweat of the good fight they had. She can still picture it even that this moment: the corpse of her mother's murderer, the assassin that tried to kill her, dead and bleeding on the cold ground, holes through her slim body like cheap, bred-for-meat cattle.

And yet there they are, lips crashing together, teeth sinking into lip-glossed skin and Christie's hand in her long, blonde hair is pulling and tugging, like she wants to rip it all out as she pushs Helena ever closer to her still-alive body.

It hurts, all of it does, and Helena can easily stop it all in a flash, a snap of metal sparking in her gun… but she can't make herself listen to her mind, her conscience telling her that this all wrong and backward and how things are _not_ meant to be.

She shudders as something cold presses hard against the nape of her neck, and now she knows that she shouldn't pull away at all, even if she wanted to. She would have to wait until Christie pulls out of the kiss first, unless she wanted the woman's automatic to put a bullet in the back of her skull.

* * *

**Daughter - Bass and Tina**

Tina had been doing so well in her training. She was not as strong as the other kids in the ring, being the embodiment of her mother rather then her daddy but she is feisty, a brut in her own right. She has technique which, in her case, seems to be better then pure strength. She knew how to hit, to tackle and to take a punch on the shoulder. Bass was quite proud of her progress. For a thirteen year old, she was good at the sport.

Tina was Bass's pride and joy. She knew how to look after herself. She didn't need a boyfriend to protect her. She could look after herself, which is good. Very good. She was popular too, but knew who her true friends where. Only they get invited around for sleep-overs or when shopping with her. Lisa came around the most, because she was Tina _very _best friend, ever since elementary school. Bass approved of Lisa; the girl was polite and clever, and did wrestling like Tina. Played on their school's volleyball team too, so she was definitely fit and healthy. She always won the basketball games in the backyard, which annoyed Tina a lot and her angry, redden face always made Bass laugh when he got a glimpse of her through the kitchen window.

That's the Armstrong competitive strike for you.

During the first year of "Teenaged Tina", Bass started to find magazines full of movie stars, rock stars, models around the house. Tina started to be careful with her morning routine, applying make-up with expert hands and leaving the bathroom sink littered with bottles, tubes and splashes of glitter, a perfume fog in the air. Even posters of celebrities appeared on the walls of her bedroom, on her door too, staring at Bass with unblinking eyes every time he waked down the hallway.

He didn't understand her obsession. When he walked past her room one time, when Lisa came around after school and the girls had shut themselves away to have a private girly talk, he heard Tina, bouncing excitedly up and down on her four-poster bed, telling Lisa that one day, when they are older, she was going to Hollywood. Lisa asked how, what did Tina want to do, but Tina said she didn't know. She said she could be anything, but she is going to be famous. Somehow.

Bass shook his head as he walked away from the door. A silly, little phase. Tina, like any other girl, was going through a star-stuck period in her life. Those magazines and the reality shows on TV had filled her head with shallow promises and tiny wishes, but all girls return to reality sooner or later.

She's grow out of it.

* * *

**Treats - Hayate and Hitomi**

"Come on. Just one."

"Hitomi, I am grateful for the offer but I'm not--"

"_Aww_, come on, Ein! Just the one!"

Hayate stops himself from correcting her, and closes his eyes, rubbing the back of his neck. He was knew for being a patient man, but sometimes Hitomi really pushes his buttons a little too hard. She didn't mean it. She is just being like a little sister. That's what she was like to him back in Germany - during his "Ein phase", if you will.

"Hitomi, I am not hungry, thank you."

"Oh, go on! It's been _forever _since you tasted my cooking. Over a year in fact, and I have improved so much. Pretty please." The sulky pout on her face is killing him, and she knows it. She was pulling at the heartstring like a puppet master.

He gives in.

"Fine. I will have _one_-- Hhmmp!"

Hitomi shoves a cookie straight onto his open mouth and he almost chokes on it.

His near-death experience is delicious.

* * *

**Apprentice - Gen Fu and Eliot**

The first time Gen Fu punched the boy properly in the gut, Eliot had vomited on his shoes. To be fair with him, the lad was only ten at the time and had no firm stomach muscles to speak of, nor any stamina. He had likely never been hit like that either, because he started to cry silently, hiding his tears under his hair.

He doesn't cry anymore. He's sixteen now and takes the punches as they roll, giving them back ten fold. He has room for improvement, but all fighters do. He's good for his age, all the same.

When he turned thirteen, Eliot started the questioning game: "_Why me, master? Why don't someone else? There are many people out that would **kill** to be in my place. So why, out of everyone, did you pick a kid like me...?"_

For the longest time - three years, in fact - Gen Fu had avoided answering his questions. It often made the boy walk off quietly in a moody sulk, but his elder never did it to be mean. He wanted Eliot to answer the questions for himself. The boy was too self-conscious most of the time, so Gen Fu wanted him to make _himself_ feel better.

Gen Fu's true opinion? Well, it's quite obvious.

Whenever Eliot learned a new technique, every time the boy get good grades in his regular classes, as he watched Eliot play with Mei Lin and let her win, there was a sense of pride somewhere within him and he knew that he has made the right choice.

* * *

**Sister - Kokoro and Helena.**

The second time Kokoro sees the French committee leader is, surprisingly, two mouths after the tournament, on the front step of her house in Kyoto. However, that isn't as surprising as what happened, with Helena throwing her arms around her, her voice choked with sobs. The first few times she tries to talk, her native tongue gets tangled with Japanese, coming out as nonsense. When she finally gets her languages right, the words that spilt from her mouth shock Kokoro to the core: _"You're the only family I have left."_

* * *

**Jealously - Zack.**

"_So, remind me against why you only invite the __**girls **__you met at your little tournament and none of the guys?"_

Zack remembers flinching at that question when Niki asked him that, and he can remember the way her arms were folded over her chest, her perfectly-plucked brow arched and her lips pursed together as she could wait for the answer forever. Zack tried to explain that the girls - those _poor, sweet-natured _girls who he cared about like little kid sisters - have been through a lot and deserved vacations away from the tournaments and the bad events in their lives.

"_That's all very good and all, Zack, but I'm sure your guy friends have been through a lot too and might enjoy our beach too. We've had those… __**women **__visit two years in a row so, this time, try inviting __**everybody**__."_

Zack eventually lost the battle and, in a sulk, he asked the girls to bring whoever they wanted to drag along with them. All-in-all, everything turned out to be a lot of fun and everyone thought this was the best holiday Zack had ever hosted… but not even the kindest of words could stop him from seeing red every time Niki started flirting with the muscular, shirtless men around the island.

_This _is why he doesn't want the guys to come along!

* * *

**Dog - Bayman and Christie**

He stared at Donavan's right-hand killer, his pet doggie who obeyed every word her master commended and leaped at the chance to fill out his orders, and he almost - _almost_ - felt a little bit of pity for her.

The woman was blind (most likely by cold, hard cash) to the facts of life assassins like he and she live by: your employer will use you until you are dried up, until you are useless then they get rid of you. Christie thought she is indestructible, which made her bigheaded and unaware of her own weaknesses, which she showed everyone without her knowledge. That is what made her very different from Bayman.

And now she is flat on her back, gasping for breath, an ring missing from her bleeding earlobe.

"No one is goin' to stop me" Bayman told her in his gravely Russian accent, towering over her like a predator from the wild. His fist clenched into a tight fist. "Not even Donavan's pet bitch!"

Suddenly, Christie grabbed his arm and threw him over her head. The world spun violently and Bayman hit the wall hard. He landed even harder, thanks to gravity, onto the ground. Christie sat up to look at his still body, wiping reddish spit off her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Woof, woof."

* * *

**Aftermath - Ayane and Hayate**

"The DOATEC may be gone," Ayane says calmly, placing her pair of kodachi on the mat-flooring before her, "and our people may be safe from their threat… however I still believe that allowing Kasumi back into the village would be a bad thing to do." She looks upwards, seeing that Hayate is in a world of his own again, glazing out of the window like a little child lost. He only gets like this when they talk about Kasumi, and only in private. The leader of the Mugen Tenshin clan must not show weakness, especially over some little runaway shinobi. Ayane doesn't understand way he still wants Kasumi back again. He's not alone; he still has _Ayane_ and she can be-- no, _is_ better then that Princess Kasumi.

"Please understand, Master Hayate." Ayane stands up, walks over to him and his perch on the windowsill. "I know that she is your younger sister… and she only left the village limits to avenge your suffering caused by Raidou, but she broke the rules of the clan and put us all in grave danger." She stands by his side and Hayate looks at the woman in the glass reflection. "Your kidnapping. Kasumi X. Omega. ALPHA-152. All the trouble we received from the DOA. It's all leads back to her in the end. She is a threat to us all."

Hayate still doesn't respond, and Ayane sighs at him, folding her arms over her chest. "It's like I'm going mad and talking to myself."

Hayate looks up for a moment, brown eyes clouded over, before turning back, sighing wryly. Ayane shakes her head, and bows, her mouth closer to his ear. Her dark eyes soften, as does her voice. "If it makes you feel better, Kasumi is a good fighter and a big girl who can look after herself. She has outrun us so far, has she not? …And you do have Master Hayabusa watching over her anyway."

Hayate lifts his heavy head a little bit. "…How did you hear about that?"

Ayane smiles, shaking her head again. "You forget who you are talking to." She sits on the empty spot next to him, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind. "I am a shinobi of the shadows. I hide and lurk, hear and see all while people believe their secrets are safe. Nothing gets past me in this village."

"I see." Hayate places his hands over those of the assassin. "Am I in trouble?"

"Well, Master Hayabusa is not part of our clan so our rules don't affect him. I can't do anything about that. You, on the other hand, are on a warning by my books. I'm letting you off lightly."

Hayate chuckles - the first laugh in a long time - and allows himself to smile slightly. "Thank you, Ayane."

"You are welcome… Hayate." The girl rests her chin on his broad shoulder and closes her eyes. He smells of forest air, which goes so well with the aroma of rain water outside. "So, what do we do now?"

* * *

**Newcomer - Eliot and Kokoro.**

In DOA, nobody went easy on you, even if you're a new guy who hasn't lost their "tournament-virginity" yet. On the first day, you learn that you didn't fight to stay in; you fight to stop everyone else from punching and kicking you into a mushy, bloody lump of human pulp on the dirty floor.

That morning, Eliot checked over the souvenirs he already picked up: a bust-open bottom lip, a nasty black-and-blue bruise that had grew the whole length of his left arm, a sore backside, a hole in his teeth where a filling used to be, and a big purple shiner on the right side of his face; and all of that wasn't counting the numerous cuts and the many times his nose had bled.

He looked over his nude body in the mirror and decided, that in DOA, the new guys, the fresh meat is favoured by the veterans of the sport, because fresh meat is more tender. It's fun to see if they will cry and to test them. Everyone here was a playground bully and Eliot was a little child they were taking lunch money off.

Knowing the facts of the tournament, Eliot felt something strange when his next opponent walked in and he saw that it wasn't someone that appeared in his master's fading photographs. The girl was about his age, her fingernails ripped and torn, a limp in her walk, her beautiful moon-like face baring slapped cheeks and a black eye which took over the whole of the right side of her head.

He stare. He started to see himself within her. She was putting on a fake front, a tough-as-fuck act like he was as they tried to physic each other out but the fight, to make themselves look good… but for a moment, her piercing stare wavered a little and Eliot knew what she was thinking: she wanted to run home to her mummy too.


End file.
